Grains of Sand
by Sunoko
Summary: Drabbles, drabbles everywhere. Anything goes here. And I mean anything.
1. Chapter 1

**Dearly Beloved**

I must be a masochist.

I can see her, sitting on the bed. I can smell stale cigarettes, coffee, and her shampoo. I can hear her sobs; those sobs of gut wrenching mourning. I can't touch her, comfort her. I caused her to cry like that. I caused her so much pain; it hurts me so much. But I can't turn away. I can't leave. I can't abandon her in her pain.

Short girl comes to comfort her. I see Tongari leave. She will be alright, that's how she is. He is marching to his death.

I go with him.

* * *

Hey, all! Welcome to my archive of Trigun drabbles from the 100bullets com on lj, which I am finally getting around to posting. Yes, I am layzee. As this was the first drabble I wrote, it sucks, but for the sake of seeing how much I improved, (if any) I'm posting these in chronological order. Anyway, I put all of the ones I could find up here. If anyone wants to give me prompts, I'd be more than happy to take up a challenge! Thanks so much! 


	2. Birthday Wishes

**Birthday Wishes**

She woke up early, before anyone else was awake. She always did. It was so peaceful, so calm and cool, and her children were still asleep.

"Mommy?" a small, tired voice called out.

"What are you doing up? It's very early."

"Today's my birthday!" It was ritual that the birthday boy or girl would get a special breakfast.

"Of course it is! Come watch the sunrise with me. Then we'll make a special birthday breakfast, just for you."

"And I don't have to share with anyone?"

"No, you don't!" she laughed. _Oh, Milly_, she thought wistfully. _Never lose your innocence._

_

* * *

_

A conversation between child!Milly and her mother. Yes, I am vague._  
_


	3. Forever Goodbye

**Forever Goodbye**

"So you're going, then?"

"Yes."

"You don't have to. You could stay here."

"You could come."

"I have a bad feeling about it. Besides, I'm needed here."

"I'm not. I'm going."

"I need you. Please stay. You don't know if it's safe!"

"I trust them. They know what they're doing. It'll be okay!"

"But you can't come back. Not ever."

"My home is dying. I get to go and build a new, better one. I'm leaving. You can't stop me." She picked up her suitcase and walked out the door. "Goodbye," she said.

"Goodbye," he whispered to the empty room.

Okay. The explination? The woman is going on the SEEDS ship (as a frozen passenger), and the man is staying. They're just two faceless characters in the Trigun-verse. I had a really hard time paring this down. Maybe I'll expand it into a one-shot.


	4. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

**Breaking Up Is Hard To Do**

"Meryl, I need to talk to you," Vash said. "It's time we saw other people. I'm just not in love with you any more! Meet my new girlfriend, Liannastarfishangelhairmoondustbananafananafofoondustprincesspea! Sorry!"

"WHAT?" Meryl cried, outraged. The girl was perfect. She smiled, and the sun reflected off of her too white teeth.

"Stand back, Sempai!" Milly called out, running towards them.

BANG!

BANG!

The perfect girl was lying, bleeding and unconcious, on the floor. Vash looked stunned and dazed. Milly made a tally in a notebook.

"That's number 215! I'm beating you, Sempai!" Milly grinned. She lifted her stungun and walked away.


	5. Nihilistic Nights

**Nihilistic Nights**

The music floated on the desert nightly winds; magical, beautiful, haunting. He wasn't worthy to listen to it. A mere spider shouldn't be able to create it. He had to break the moment.

"This existence is pointless, you know. We do nothing except contaminate the earth with our decaying corpses."

"You really know how to sweet talk someone, don't you? It must be from all of that dessert you eat."

"Why do you persist in playing? It is all irrelevant, in the end."

"Maybe. But the end isn't now. I play because it makes me happy."

The music went on.


	6. Lessons

**Lessons**

It was only an indirect kiss. They only shared a cigarette. Never mind the dark look that Midvalley had shot him, a look full of lust and desire. Never mind his rapidly beating heart.

"Chapel."

"Don't _call_ me that, you freak musician!"

"I bet you can sing really well."

"I've never tried. What's your point?"

"I just think that you and I could make beautiful music together. Come play with me. I'm a very good, patient teacher. But you will need to quit smoking." Midvalley strolled away, caressing Wolfwood in passing.

Wolfwood fumbled with his cigarette, taking several deep drags.


	7. Moving the Pieces

**Moving the Pieces**

"Checkmate!"

"Argh! That's the seventh time in a row! Damn, Big Girl!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Priest. Do you want a rematch? If you want, I'll go easy on you!"

Wolfwood stared at his chess partner. Coming from anyone else, that last statement would have been sheer arrogance. She only seemed to want him to win and do his best.

He wondered how she did it. If he asked, she would probably spout some sage advice one of her numerous siblings had given her.

"Mr. Priest?"

"Let's play again. Don't go easy on me."

She laughed, and it made him happy.


	8. Selfish Little Wishes

**Selfish Little Wishes**

If anyone asked her, she didn't have a mommy. She had a Milly. Having a Milly was far better than having a mommy, or so she was told. But it was hard to share Milly with all of the others. Milly constantly had to break up fights, nurse scraped knees, cook, clean, play, read, and be cheerful.

The older kids did help. Tommy worked at the plant, and Kate was a seamstress for the mayor's wife. Still, Milly had to do a lot, and so rarely did anyone get Milly's undivided attention.

She loved Milly, but she wanted a mommy.

* * *

This one's a little confusing, I know. Milly's working at an (the?) orphanage, and one of her young charges is musing. Sharing your mother figure with at least twenty other people can't be easy, and everyone wants undivided attention sometimes. 


	9. The Old Switcheroo

**The Old Switcheroo**

It was a very surreal moment when Meryl and Vash awoke. Two screams echoed through the house.

"You- me? _How?"_ Meryl-as-Vash wailed. They thought back to last night.

Milly. Knives. Drinking.

"Knives must've lost control," Vash-as-Meryl said. "We can't do anything until he wakes up."

"You mean I have to stay like this?" Meryl-as-Vash shrieked.

"Come on, it'll be okay!"

"Fine. Touch my body and I will make yours wish it had never been born." Meryl-as-Vash said, storming off. After she left, Vash-as-Meryl jumped up and down experimentally, watching as Meryl's boobs bounced.

Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Yes, there are plot holes big enough to drive a Mac truck through. This was a challenge, and the prompt was "Vash is Meryl, Meryl is Vash." But I couldn't explain away why Vash couldn't do anything about their situation in 100 words. Sorry if this bothers anyone! 


	10. Origin of the Species

**Origin of the Species**

"You're back, Legato. Did you find what we sought?"

"Yes, my master. The great and terrible power has been found. With it, we can wipe out life as we know it," Legato said, bowing low and presenting an ornate box.

"Excellent! Open it up!"

"My master, far be it from me to ever doubt you, but I must express a word of caution. We do not know what will emerge from this box."

"Stop stalling and OPEN IT!"

The box was opened, and out of it stepped a girl who radiated beauty and perfection.

"Hi! My name is Mary Sue!"


	11. Laundry Day

**Laundry Day**

Wolfwood dragged his laundry down to the washroom. Someone was already there.

"Hey, pal! Quite a collection of people here, doncha think?" Wolfwood said amicably.

"I'm better than all of them, especially that know-it-all braggart Midvalley," the other man grumbled, sorting his socks.

"Easy now! I'm not doubting your skills!"

"Oh, so you don't believe me! I'll show you!"

Wolfwood's eyes widened in shock as the other man kissed him passionately.

"So? I kiss better than Midvalley, don't I?"

"Yes," Wolfwood replied faintly.

_E.G. Mine just kissed me amid my dirty laundry, _Wolfwood thought. _And I liked it. Oh, shit._


	12. Premature

**Premature**

Something inside her grew more numb at these funerals. Every time she had to bury one more tiny body that couldn't adapt to the harsh climate and malnutrition, another part of her heart died. The money Father Wolfwood sent barely covered repairs, let alone food.

Had she angered God? He certainly punished her by reclaiming His children time and time again.

No. She did God's work.

She shook her head, murmuring a brief prayer for the young soul. The small shovel rested against the orphanage until it was needed for the next burial.

She didn't cry. Her tears were always premature.

---

Jeez. Sorry, everyone. I was just thinking about premature babies and premature death and this came out. I don't think that all of the kids at the orphanage live long lives, and the speaker here is a nun who helps care for the kids in Wolfwood's absence. I guess. Did this make any sense at all?


	13. Pretty Little Princess

**Pretty Little Princess**

Like most small girls, she wanted to be a princess rescued by knights in shining silver. She wanted someone to slay the dragons and the bad guys in her town. The ones who hated her, who called her monster.

So she played pretend, alone and happy.

Until the bad guys attacked. She was away, playing in the fields. When she came back, her home was destroyed. She still hates the smell of burning corpses.

She found it buried in the debris. It was shining silver, but not a knight.

She took her vengeance; tears pouring out of her good eye.

* * *

So, uhm, yeah. One of my more obtuse efforts, I am thinking. Dominique the Cyclops's first time, as it were. I have no idea what her actual back story is so I made it up. I guess it's pretty OOC. Sorry about that! 


	14. Show Me the Way to Go Home

**Show Me the Way to Go Home**

It had started out as a contest; an exhibition of masculine pride and one-upmanship. Each of them had seen their days of battle, their bodies living records of past trials.

At first, it began with rolled up sleeves and pants. Then, it moved on to the removal of shirts. Questioning fingers tracing scars turned into roving hands tracing bodies.

It was not a night spent in passion or in love. It was merely two desperately lonely souls seeking comfort and understanding.

No one would understand their act, and if pressed, both Frank and Vash would blame it on the alcohol.

---

Erm, yes. Perhaps I should have been more clear. Vash and Frank are showing each other their scars and it turns into something more. I'm so vauge! Gyah!


	15. Shapes of Love

**Shapes of Love**

"We're through, Wolfwood," announced E.G.

"What! Why? Was the sex not good enough?" Wolfwood asked.

"No, it wasn't. You'd think that boffing Midvalley all the time would make you better in the sack. Ha, I taught you more than that moronic musician ever could." Chapel reddened. He and Midvalley had not been discrete, but E.G. didn't have to be so blunt. _Well, he doesn't know about Vash or Dominique,_ Wolfwood thought.

"But why?" Wolfwood repeated. "Is there someone else?"

"Of course there is, idiot! You cheated too, so shut up. Besides, do you know what he can do with those puppets?"


	16. Popping the Question

**Popping the Question**

Wolfwood's breakfast was interrupted by an adorable little girl climbing into his lap.

"Where do babies come from?" she asked. Wolfwood choked on his coffee.

"Well, uh, babies, uhm, when a bird and a bee- no, that's wrong. When a mommy and a daddy love each other VERY much, uhm..." he trailed off. "How old are you?"

"Four and one quarter!"

"You're too young to know! Go outside and play!" He marched out, unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. She wandered off, smirking.

Young voices emerged from the cupboard.

"How long was that?"

"32 seconds. You owe me $$10."

"Damn!"

* * *

Uhm, yeah. Explanations. The children of the orphanage betting on how long it would take Wolfwood to avoid 'the question'. 


	17. Dude Looks Like A Lady

**Dude Looks Like a Lady**

Wolfwood's scream of terror awoke the others.

"Oww, my head. Whazzamatter?" a hungover Vash moaned.

"You! Me! LOOK!" Wolfwood said, dragging Vash to the mirror. The two stared in disbelieving horror at their reflections. Both wore badly applied makeup. Vash was clad in a flowered sundress with a matching hair ribbon, Wolfwood in a skirt ensemble.

"What's going on?" asked Milly. They simply gaped at her.

"HOW-?" Wolfwood began.

"WHAT-?" asked Vash.

"Oh, don't you remember?" Meryl replied. "Last night you wanted to be 'pretty'. You tossed your normal clothes out the window when we finished. You were _really_ drunk."

* * *

Yeah. I think the prompt for this one was gender bending somehow. I'd imagine Wolfwood's is wearing Meryl's outfit, and Vash one of Millie's dresses. Honestly, though I think I like the idea of smeared makeup the best.   



	18. Going to the Chapel

**Going to the Chapel**

Six-year-old Meryl fiddled with her lace gloves, earning a gentle whap on the head from her mother's paper fan. The melancholy feeling permiated every corner of the sweltering church. The priest recited the mass by rote. Uncle looked livid. Meryl could see veins on his forehead throbbing. Aunty was sobbing.

Meryl's cousin stood next to her new, terrified husband, the folds of the simple bridal gown hardly disguising her rounded belly.

Karen, Meryl's best friend, said that marriage was the most romantic thing in the world. But if this was romance, Meryl wanted nothing to do with it.

* * *

There's got to be a reason Meryl's so averse to relationships... if her experience is only in momentary passions resulting in shotgun weddings, I'd imagine she'd be cautious. 


	19. Prevalence of Human Nature

**Prevalance of Human Nature**

From a distance, the strange creatures were oddly graceful and beautiful. David had discovered them on his second scouting mission. The creatures were curious and friendly, just like Bethany. David seriously considered calling these animals 'Beths' out of love for her. As a scientist, he could think of no higher gift.

"We gotta go back. You done playing with your animals yet, Einstien?" Tomas sneered, shoving the butt of his gun into David's back. David scowled and moved closer to one of the creatures.

Up close, the animals were stupid, smelly and amazingly ugly. Rather similar to Tomas.

Bethany always did like jewelery.

* * *

For the toiling scientist in all of us. 


	20. Asylum for the Verbally Insane

**Asylum for the Verbally Insane**

"Wow! Can I?" Vash asked, eyeing the 'Wet T-Shirt Contest-- Judges Needed!' sign.

"Fat chance!" snorted Meryl.

"Slim chance!" said Wolfwood, pointing to the long queue of applicants.

Milly started to think. A fat chance equaled a slim chance? She pondered this condundrum until dinner.

She understood when desserts arrived. "I get it! It's a bell curve!" she exclaimed. "Slim and fat are extremes; there's a small likelihood of their occurrence in the general population! That's why a fat chance is the same as a slim chance!" Content with another mystery solved, Milly ate.

The others simply stared at her.

* * *

As a side note, the word 'ponder' is inextricably linked in my mind to 'Pinky and the Brain'. 

Meryl: Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Milly?

Milly: I think so, Sempai, but wouldn't green suspenders hold a fireman's pants up, too?


	21. Lost in a Memory

**Lost in a Memory**

He had seen her. She was a vision from their past; an old friend long gone. He took a step forward and blinked. She vanished, disappearing with the strange, familiar scent of pudding and cigarette smoke into the scorching desert.

She was smiling, but she always smiled. She seemed happy. It gave him a bit of hope. She had been ripped from them by a stray bullet, another causualty in a stranger's war. It was unfair. She had deserved a better fate.

"Vash?" asked a greying Meryl. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah," he replied. "Just thought I saw something."

* * *

Yeah, I edited this so it hopefully made a bit more sense. Vash saw Milly's ghost. I have a bad habit of being incredibly and confusingly vauge. 


	22. Carry the Weight

**Carry the Weight**

In my dreams, I fly.

Carried up into the sky on a great gust of wind and the air is cool and crisp and the sky is so beautiful.

A tap on my shoulder brings me back to reality. Wolfwood asks if I'm alright. I brush him off. You are causing trouble again. Predictably, I yell. We act our parts well, you and I, but this role is dragging me down.

A hot wind blows past me; I spread my arms to hug the wind.

I'm too heavy. The wind won't lift me here.

But in my dreams, I fly.

* * *

I like Meryl. What? 


	23. Masks

**Masks**

It occured to him, as they lay entertwined, that Wolfwood had never asked about the mask. About the shell, sure, but never the mask. He wasn't sure why this bothered him so. It did, obviously, because he was lying there brooding instead of waking up his partner and demanding another go.

It hit E.G. like a Plant surge. He was falling in love. He didn't want to be society's-dregs-hired-assassins-quasi-coworkers-who-fucked-each-other anymore. His near-dead heart warmed at the thought of mutual monogamy.

"Shit." Having a heart was very bad in this business. Tomorrow, he'd break it, and no one would be the wiser.

* * *

It works if you count "society's-dregs-hired-assassins-quasi-coworkers-who-fucked-each-other" as one word, which I did. E.G. MINE/WOLFWOOD 4 EVAR!11!  



	24. Discovery!

**Discovery!**

Midvalley walked in like a zombie.

"What's with you?" asked Dominique, glancing up from her solitaire game.

"Chapel... and STAMPEDE!"

"Oh. That. Took you long enough," Elindira remarked, flipping through a magazine. "You know about the others, right?"

"...OTHERS!"

"Mmm-hmm. There was E.G., Rai-Dei, Caine, Hoppard, but I think Wolfwood was drunk then, Grey, that cute big girl Stampede hangs with, and you, Domi!"

"You forgot Knives, Legato, that short girl, and yourself. You slept with him, too, Ellie, remember?"

"A true lady never fucks and tells. Oh, I'd get tested if I were you, Middy."

Midvalley promptly fainted.

* * *

Absolutely pointless and terribly OOC. I had fun. 


	25. Ammunition

**Ammunition**

Vash hated them. Right now, his hate was almost all-consuming, eclipsed only by the drowning grief they had caused him. Whenever he calmed down, he felt his brother's sick enjoyment; both knew that those two were the reason behind it. Vash raged again.

Intellectually, he knew it wasn't their fault; they were doing what they saw fit, but he still hated them. They had forced him to kill.

They cared for and loved him, and followed him to the ends of the earth. He hated it.

In the end, all their love did was give Knives ammunition.

* * *


	26. Water

**Water, Water, Everywhere**

When they awoke, the first thing they did was survey the area. Teams set out in different directions, all returning with the same message: There's only sand. No water anywhere!

Upon hearing that, he got scared. How would they survive?

But humans are resourceful, and survive they did. As he grew older, he forgot the feel of raindrops on his cheeks, the cold impact of a snowball on his back, the cool river kissing his ankles.

As he lay dying, surrounded by his family, he regretted losing those memories.

_Funny,_ he thought, _how my biggest fear used to be drowning._

* * *

SEEDS ship person #80273, growing up on Gunsmoke. 


	27. Parting

**Parting**

Milly said her new assignment was pretty safe, but Jean knew her baby sister was lying. She approached her sibling alone.

"Milly," Jean said, staring the other in the eye. "You're goin' someplace dangerous, aren'tcha?"

"..."

"I'm not gonna ask where; you'll prolly lie about that, too."

"Our assignment is to monitor Vash the Stampede."

"... I see."

"..."

"Welp, guess you better write home a lot! Here." Jean held out a box. Inside, Milly found paper, pencils, and stamps. She started to cry.

"You leave nuthin' out, got it?" They hugged. "I love you, baby sis. We all do. Come home safe."

* * *

And so begins the Milly Monthly! I have no idea why Milly's sister talks that way. It just sort of happened.  



	28. Vices

**Vices**

It was, surprisingly, Wolfwood who noticed. She quietly left the dinner table, returning later, much paler. Wolfwood brushed it off as illness. But when it happened again and again, he became suspicious.

He started to notice other things, too. How she wouldn't eat anything sometimes and gorge herself others. How much thinner she looked.

After following her and listening to her vomit, he confronted her.

"Why are you doing this to yourself, Short Girl?" he asked quietly.

"I- because it's the only thing I can contr- well, never mind. Mr. Wolfwood. I don't demonize your vices; please don't demonize mine."


	29. Showerhead

**Showerhead**

"I hate hotel towels," a damp Milly announced from the bathroom. "They're never big enough!" Wolfwood turned to look at her and nearly choked on his cigarette. The towel left little to the imagination; it barely covered her voluptuous breasts. He strode into the bathroom quickly. His lips and tongue started at her ears and worked their way down as his fingers started at her knee and worked their way up. Milly moaned and fell into the priest as her knees buckled.

A half an hour later, they finally emerged. Milly decided that hotel towels weren't that bad after all.

* * *

Hotel towels really are awful. 


	30. Scar Tissue

**Scar Tissue**

She sparked his interest, that girl with the laughing eyes and the low-cut dress. She wiggled and flirted, leaving him wanting more. He was helpless when she pulled him by the red collar of his jacket into the darkened alleyway.

Between the groping and unbuttoning, he felt the extensive scar tissue on her back.

"Where did-" he began, cut off by her kiss.

"Usually it's 'where do', sugar. July. You know, you're the first one to ask."

He slumped over her, blonde hair tickling her cheek.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Don't be," she replied, lightening his wallet by several double-dollars.

* * *

Young!Vash and LostJuly!Hooker. What? It's possible. 


	31. Mud Pies

**Mud Pies**

Wolfwood would never cease to be amazed by the kids. How they managed to get muddy in the desert was a mystery, but he suspected it had something to do with the several missing canteens. They beamed up at him with muddy cheeks.

"What are you doing?" he asked, amused.

The children grabbed his sleeves and smeared mud onto his clothes and hands, giggling all the while.

"Come play!" they shrieked. Wolfwood gave up and sat down in the mud, grinning and rubbing mud into the nearest kid's hair.

It had been a long time since he had so much fun.


End file.
